Iowa State Takes on Colorado in NCAA First Round

AMES, Iowa - This is what volleyball teams and student-athletes work for year-round: getting a chance to be one of the 64 teams who get to have its season continue by at least another match. For the eighth-consecutive season, the Iowa State volleyball team has been able to continue its season and the Cyclones will be looking to keep playing for another day Friday when they take on Colorado at 4:30 p.m. in the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis.

All-session tickets are still on sale through the Minnesota Ticket Office. Single-session tickets will go on sale Friday morning at 9 a.m. The match will be streamed live and free of charge on gophersports.com. Live stats will also be provided on gophersports.com. Due to NCAA Championship regulations on offering play-by-play coverage via live blogging, Cyclones.com will not be hosting a live blog for Friday's match.

If the Cyclones win on Friday, they will play the winner of the match between hosts Minnesota and Big South champion Radford, which will take place following Iowa State's match.

Cyclone Headlines

Appearing in its eighth-consecutive NCAA Championship, the Iowa State volleyball team will begin its journey Friday at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis against Colorado in a first-round match-up.

Iowa State is making its ninth NCAA Volleyball Championship appearance all-time. The Cyclones have a 14-8 all-time record.

This is the fourth time the Cyclones have played at the Sports Pavilion in the NCAA Championship (2008, 2010, 2011). Iowa State’s record in those matches is 3-3.

Iowa State will be facing its former Big 12 Conference rival Colorado for the first time since the Buffaloes left for the Pac 12. The Cyclones will have played three of the four former Big 12 schools this season, having already played Nebraska at Texas A&M.

Kristen Hahn was named the Big 12 Libero of the Year for the third consecutive season and was a unanimous choice for the All-Big 12 First Team for the second year in a row. Hahn led the Big 12 in digs per set for all but one week this year and currently ranks third nationally at 5.73 digs per set.

Hahn was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week five times this season and a conference-record 17 times in her career.

Mackenzie Bigbee was also a unanimous selection to the All-Big 12 First Team. The sophomore leads the Iowa State offense with 3.25 kills per set at a .255 hitting percentage.

Iowa State has been one of the best serving teams in the country. The Cyclones, as they have for the entirety of the 2013 season, lead the Big 12 in service aces per set (1.67 per set) and are the leaders in total aces in spite of playing the second-fewest sets in the league this year.

Iowa State’s serving is now garnering the attention of the NCAA rankings. Going into this week’s matches, the Cyclones rank 13th in the country in aces per set. The Big 12’s leading server, Tory Knuth, ranks 22nd nationally.

This will be the 57th time the two teams have met, with Colorado leading the all-time series 39-17. However, Iowa State is 10-2 agasint CU under Christy Johnson-Lynch, including victories in the last five meetings, the last coming on November 16, 2010, a sweep in favor of the Cyclones.

Kristen Hahn started for Iowa State as a defensive specialist against Colorado in Nov. 2010.